1 Tonglen Meditation’s Effect on Levels of Compassion and Self-Compassion: A Pilot Study and Instructional Guide Daphna McKnight Thesis Completed as Part of the Upaya Buddhist Chaplaincy Training Program 2010-2012 Author’s Note Correspondence concerning this paper should be addressed to the author at [email protected] 2 Abstract This is the first known empirical study of the Tibetan Buddhist Tonglen meditation practice, which is intended to increase compassion, in addition to reducing fear and egotism. This small, pilot study examined changes in self-compassion and compassion for others through a pre/post intervention study design (α=.05). Subjects (n=9), who were novice meditators, were guided through three 18-minute Tonglen meditation sessions, one session every 48 hours. Results, based on the Related Samples Wilcoxon Signed Rank Test, showed a statistically significantly increase in the total scale score of self-compassion (p=.030) and in the self-compassion subscale, Common Humanity (p=.027) as measured by the self-report questionnaire, Self- Compassion Scale (Neff, 2003a). An increase in compassion for others after Tonglen meditation could not be determined through the self-report questionnaire, Santa Clara Brief Compassion Scale (Hwang, Plante, & Lackey, 2008). A discussion of the findings and suggestions for future Tonglen research follows, as does an extended literature review of a “cousin” compassion meditation practice, loving-kindness meditation (LKM) and of mindfulness meditation (MM) as it relates to compassion. This thesis also includes a Tonglen script and a “troubleshooting” guide for those teaching Tonglen to novice practitioners. 3 Acknowledgements I would like to thank my husband for his practice and his on-going love and support, my father and stepmother, mother, and sisters who have faith in me even when they are not sure exactly what I am up to, and my Grandfather, H. Glen Mills, whose parting gift allowed me to take this chaplaincy training program. My thanks also goes out to Kevin Handley, my motivation coach, Lynette Monterio, who offered initial support and technical suggestions, Corey Cooper who ran the statistical analysis on the data, and the University of the West Library staff who helped me access articles quickly and efficiently. Special gratitude also goes to Roshi Joan Halifax for creating and guiding us through such an amazing, far-reaching program, and to Maia Duerr, Donna Kwilosz, the chaplaincy sangha, and the residents at Upaya Zen Center for their ongoing support. I would also like to note that a few sections of this paper have been adapted, with permission, from early drafts of my Ph.D. dissertation, particularly the literature review and the section explaining tonglen meditation. The Tonglen Focus Group Study is original research for this thesis as are other sections including the Tonglen Troubleshooting Guide. 4 Table of Contents Abstract ................................................................................................................................................ 2 Acknowledgements .............................................................................................................................. 3 Preface .................................................................................................................................................. 6 Introduction .......................................................................................................................................... 8 Calls for the use of Tonglen Meditation ........................................................................................... 9 Tonglen and Buddhist Chaplaincy ................................................................................................. 10 Tonglen Meditation ........................................................................................................................ 11 History of Tonglen ...................................................................................................................... 11 Tonglen Preliminaries ................................................................................................................. 12 Practice of Tonglen ..................................................................................................................... 14 Literature Review ............................................................................................................................... 16 Compassion Definitions ................................................................................................................. 16 Compassion Benefits ...................................................................................................................... 23 Tonglen: Empirical Research ......................................................................................................... 24 Loving-Kindness Meditation .......................................................................................................... 26 Mindfulness Meditation .................................................................................................................. 37 Support for Study Design ............................................................................................................... 42 Tonglen Study .................................................................................................................................... 45 Research Question and Objectives ................................................................................................. 45 Assumptions and Constraints ......................................................................................................... 45 Significance of the Study ................................................................................................................ 46 Method ............................................................................................................................................ 46 Participants .................................................................................................................................. 46 Procedures ................................................................................................................................... 46 Measures ..................................................................................................................................... 47 Results ......................................................................................................................................... 48 Discussion ................................................................................................................................... 52 References .......................................................................................................................................... 61 5 Appendices ......................................................................................................................................... 67 Tonglen Troubleshooting Guide ..................................................................................................... 67 Tonglen Script ................................................................................................................................ 73 Self-Compassion Scale ................................................................................................................... 77 Santa Clara Brief Compassion Scale: ............................................................................................. 78 Additional Posttest Questions – Written Short Answer ................................................................. 79 Small Group Oral Questions (Conducted post posttest) ................................................................. 80 Demographic Questionnaire (Post Posttest) ................................................................................... 81 Demographic Responses Based on the 9 Participants Who Finished the Study ............................ 84 Informed Consent ........................................................................................................................... 85 Dedication of Merit ............................................................................................................................ 87 6 Preface My interest in Tonglen began in the early 2000s, when I worked as a senior training consultant at a large corporation. I had been taught Tonglen and had read about it, but had not practiced it much. I was definitely a novice. One day in a meeting, the animosity between two teams I consulted for flared up worse than usual. People were at each other’s throats and nothing positive was being accomplished. I suddenly felt a flash of anger myself, which was unusual, and I began to tell myself that these “idiots” were wasting my time and my life. As I got all riled up, a part of me watched my reaction in a bit of shock and then realization. Just like me, all of these people wanted to be happy, but we were all going about it in ways that were bringing us more suffering. One woman really wanted to be at home with her newborn twins, but her husband was out of work, and she could not afford to take a long maternity leave. Another person was a middle aged, middle manager. She was a single parent who was terrified she would be laid off, never find another job, and not be able to take care of her family. As I looked around the table, I saw